Talk:The Hive Queen/@comment-75.90.30.191-20180813185315/@comment-47.142.179.180-20180813230005
(Readers beware; this text is long...) If you're right about this cave system, it would have to be gigantic. It would have to be a long ways below sea level if it cut through the ocean and half of Pyrrhia (and if it were so big, I wonder: Would the incline to the lowest part of the cave be gradual, or steep? Since it would cut through half of Pyrrhia, it certainly could be a gradual descent to the tunnels at the bottom of the ocean, but it's not for certain, of course; this is a theory, after all, and one about a cave, which can be unpredictable in its appearance). It would also have to be lengthy, of course. Pyrrhia and Pantala are probably hundreds or perhaps thousands of miles apart; this cave system would likely be much longer than three hundred sixty-five miles, the length so far explored of what is the longest cave known today: the aptly named Mammoth Cave (imagine that there's so much left to explore of it!). I like your theory, though. It could very well be true (and even possible in our own world). It would certainly be a more clear-cut journey than flying across the ocean with no accurate guide (I suppose Turtle, Anemone, or Jerboa II could enchant a map to show where Pantala is and where the traveling party and/or the holder of the map are on the map, as well as where Cricket, Blue, Luna, and Swordtail are (and maybe other characters), but Tui would probably find that too easy a solution; oh, I wish she had laid out more rules and/or limitations for animus magic; then she wouldn't have had to cut it out of the Third Arc at least almost entirely because of its excessive power). That's all that'd be easier about the cave system, though; at least with flying, they'd always have the ocean below to fish from, whereas in a cave, there'd probably be hardly any food. I think the two methods would be equally challenging; if one flew, they would always be able to catch aquatic animals to eat, but they could tire after a while and fall and drown in the ocean, a rather unpleasant and long way to die (unless they alternated between flying and swimming (realistically, in order to swim efficiently, dragons with huge wings (like the Wings of Fire dragons) would have to wrap their wings around themselves to reduce the drag their wings would cause and propel with their back talons and maybe tails), so their wings wouldn't tire when swimming; that doesn't mean they wouldn't tire their minds and whole bodies from constant motion, though, so they'd still drown sooner or later) if they didn't happen by the rare island in the sea that is the... well, sea (I apologize for the "joke"). If one traveled to Pantala via a huge cave, however, they'd always have ground to stand on (unless the cave had pockets of water, which would be likely; remember the cave scene from Book One? Clay nearly drowned, and he can hold his breath for quite a while, even if, at least at the time, he couldn't for as long as the average adult MudWing) but likely not much food. There would also be the possibility of getting lost in the huge cave system, since it would likely branch out in numerous directions. Hmm... the cave route certainly seems more difficult now. If one knew which path to take through the whole thing and brought enough food to last a while and/or knew where to get food along the way, it would certainly be an easier trip than flying, even if you knew which way to go while flying, because at least the weather is predictable in a cave (there is none as long as all openings are blocked to prevent possible flooding). But no Pyrrhian knows the way, as far as I know. Hmm... So many intracacies to this theory! Whelp, this got too long. Kudos to whoever read through it all.